Abstract:

This paper presents a teaching strategy that allows experimenting with concepts of classical genetics in an interactive, fun and innovative way, making use of fantasy characters in three dimensions. The strategy has a primer that contains a sequence of activities that allow experimentation and a mobile application based on augmented reality. Using these two elements, it seeks to conceptually enrich the topics on Mendelian genetics and strengthen scientific skills including: the identification of inheritance mechanisms through the study of characteristics to establish kinship relationships between organisms, the understanding of how genetics allows explain the biological diversity and variability of populations as a consequence of genetic changes over time and the development of scientific information analysis skills, including comprehension, reasoning and sensory skills.

Unlike some traditional augmented strategies, this application not only shows three-dimensional models on surfaces, but also presents its own interaction mechanics that allow genetics concepts to be put into practice. In the mobile application it is possible to interact with different organisms of different species, the genotypes of the organisms can be modified, as well as making crosses between pairs of organisms with the genotypes established by the user. That interaction generates changes in the phenotypic and genotypic ratios in a Punnett square in real time in a didactic way. Subsequently, the user has the option of generating crosses to obtain offspring of the organisms, at which time, it is visually presented how the probabilities associated with the Punnett square materialize in the offspring using a visual resource generated by the authors. The interaction with the different organisms allows the user to experiment by modifying the genotypic and phenotypic proportions obtained by crossing a couple. The purpose of the primer is to sequence the augmented experiments to allow the user to explore all the alternatives of use progressively.

Some of the advantages of Augmented Reality for teaching are related to the increase in motivation for learning, the generation of interactive activities that favor the teaching-learning process, among others. These advantages, in the case of this work, are enhanced due to the use of custom interaction mechanics that allow taking advantage of the unique capabilities of this technology and not simply showing three-dimensional digital information.

Keywords:

Augmented Reality, Genetics, Mobile Learning.